Matt Kenseth passive aggressively still bitter about NASCAR suspension

Serving a two-race suspension, Matt Kenseth wasn’t permitted to attend Sunday’s NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway, though that didn’t stop him from expressing his opinion on what happened after.

Shortly after Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski staged a spirited (though clean) battle for the win that saw Johnson ultimately prevail, Kenseth sent a congratulatory tweet to Johnson -- and also took a not-so veiled shot at NASCAR CEO and chairman Brian France.

“Good work @JimmieJohnson!” Kenseth tweeted. “Textbook pass for the win at the end of the race when someone is trying to take your lane. #quintessential”

Kenseth missed Texas and will sit out next week’s race at Phoenix International Raceway after being suspended Tuesday for an intentional crash of Joey Logano last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. At the time Kenseth was 10 laps down, while Logano was leading and closing in on a victory that would have secured him a spot in the championship finale.

The retaliatory take out was in response to Logano, who had won the previous week, spinning Kenseth out of the lead with five laps remaining during the Oct. 18 race at Kansas Speedway. Kenseth needed the win to avoid playoff elimination.

Logano contended Kenseth blocked him several times and left him little choice but to use his front bumper to get around, while Kenseth said Logano chose not to pass cleanly. France seemingly sided with Logano, saying he performed a “quintessential NASCAR” maneuver during an interview the next day on SiriusXM Radio.

When asked about France’s comments four days later, Kenseth took umbrage with NASCAR’s top executive, defending one driver spinning out another for the win.

“I don’t know what (quintessential) means, I wasn’t very good in high school,” Kenseth said. “I barely made it through Cambridge High School (Wis.) so I’d have to Google that word first. Once I learn what that means, then I can probably answer that better.”

Considering he included it in his tweet Sunday, Kenseth apparently has since learned the definition of ‘quintessential.”

Erik Jones drove Kenseth’s No. 20 car to a 12th-place finish at Texas. Logano finished 40th due to an early tire failure and enters Phoenix requiring a win to remain in title contention.